iPhone 18 Pro hands-on: Variable aperture and stunning new colors

Apple just unveiled a ton of new devices, including the AirPods 5, the Apple Watch Series 12, Ultra 4 and, the show stealer, the iPhone Duo. But the iPhone 18 Pro is probably something more people are looking to buy. I was just able to check out the iPhone 18 Pro in person here at Apple Park in the delicious new burgundy color option and play with some of its latest features, particularly the variable aperture in the camera app. I was mostly enthralled as I watched the blades in the camera move.

The variable aperture controls are in the camera app, and you can access the settings at the top of the viewfinder. In addition to the aperture sizes, you can also change shutter speed. white balance and ISO light sensitivity. While most of them offer a fairly wide range of settings to choose from, the aperture options were limited to just f/1.48, f/1.8, f/2.8 and f/4.0. I found it slightly tricky to use with just one hand, as I was holding my camera in my other hand. But the system is intuitive, and when an Apple rep asked me to look at the main camera sensor while he jumped between these different options, I could see the blades moving. It's certainly behaving as advertised, so far!

Other iPhone 18 Pro updates that I could see from this early preview are the smaller dynamic island, which certainly seems neater than the one on my iPhone 17 Pro. I like the idea that it can accommodate one more live activity, because I hate having to give up, say, my timer controls when I have Spotify and an active delivery going on in the background.

I just spent more time with the new Dynamic Island software, with myself and an Apple rep here setting timers, playing songs on Apple Music and checking the status of a trip on Flighty. All three ongoing activities found spots in the Dynamic Island. 

I also took a lot at the new Photographic Styles, which you can find in the same place as before. Not only are there new texture and grain options, there's also been a small reorganization of the filters. Their labels now include more descriptive labels, like "Amber + Glow" or "Rose gold + Glow" or "Cozy + Film" for instance.

There's also more options when you customize the individual styles, namely the new Texture settings. These let you adjust skin softness, grain and apply a film effect on top of the color, brightness and contrast tweaks. I was able to take a selfie and make these tweaks and while I feel like I've evolved since the days when I used to edit my complexion a lot, I did find the effect realistic and pleasant. I won't be going deep into the controls to apply these changes much, but I guess it's useful to have.

At a separate demo later, I was able to spend more time with the iPhone 18 Pro's cameras, testing the new variable aperture on some overhead lights in a dark room set up to feel like a bar. When I adjusted the aperture across all the levels, I saw the light flares slowly change into more pronounced twinkly shapes. I had a harder time noticing any difference in depth of field effects, but will probably be able to better judge them with a unit out in the real world.

One final camera-related update that I'll mention because it intrigues me: Apple Reference Image. On the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, it is a feature you need to turn on prior to capturing images as it's a hardware-backed authentication system. According to Apple, the sensor will "sign every pixel it sees" and create an unalterable image that you can view alongside the picture in the Photos app. That will allow you to compare and see if any changes have been made. 

Any effort to assist in the authentication of media generated by humans versus AI is a welcome attempt to me, so I liked learning about this. But since I haven't been able to test it, there's not much more to add here.

I also didn't get to properly test things like thermal management, overall performance or faster wired charging speeds, for instance. And like I said I did get to appreciate for myself the Glacier and Burgundy colors on the new iPhone 18 Pro, which I did really like. (Both are equally nice, I'd have a hard time choosing between them.) So far, I'm finding it hard to tell you how much of an upgrade the iPhone 18 Pro is over its predecessor. But it's evident this week that the iPhone Duo has stolen the show, and while the Pro is far from an afterthought, it's also clearly not the focus this year.